The Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailers & The Importance Of Conflict In Your Screenplay

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To make The Avengers work, Joss Whedon had to balance larger than life heroes from four franchises in addition to creating a credible threat for them to face. What truly made The Avengers a remarkable success was how they managed to include so much character and conflict within the complex narrative.

Throughout the film, each character experiences varying conflicts with other heroes. No one is left behind. There is more than enough conflict to go around before Loki and his sceptor enter the picture to cause havoc. The result is a film with quality relationships forged BECAUSE of the conflicts they overcome.

Now it’s time for Marvel & the extremely talented Mr. Whedon to raise the bar. How can such a powerful team be challenged?

Two trailers and it’s very clear The Avengers are at war with each other again. Each hero is going to be tested by Ultron and by their own internal conflicts.

Iron Man appears to be the catalyst once again. With Civil War on the horizon, Iron Man & Cap will certainly challenge each other’s morals and values. Thor gets a firm grip on Stark’s neck and let’s not forget Hulk vs Hulkbuster. It would appear Bruce Banner is in for a rough ride in this film.

The challenge in Ultron is to increase the conflict and infighting amonst the team while integrating new heroes into the mix. Adding to the conflict is a villain who represents a failure at the hands of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

Complex conflicts piled on top of complex conflicts. Something every screenplay needs.

Take a look at your latest draft. Is there conflict in every scene? Are the relationships challenged by conflict? Even best friends have fights. It’s not enough for conflict to exist either. Your characters must make believable choices to overcome the challenges in front of them. It’s difficult to pull off but infinitely rewarding when your tension filled page turner is ready for the world.

Watch these two trailers (even if you aren’t a fan) and analyze how much conflict exists between the characters.

These two trailers don’t just show off big action set pieces. They show off an unreal amount of conflict that creates a sense of danger. Some of our favorite Marvel heroes may not make it throught this battle. It’s that kind of tension that sells a sequal. We’ve seen them assemble once before. It was tense and required a very real global threat to unite them. Now it’s clear the team is going to be torn apart and rebuilt with the stakes higher than ever. When Ultron gets through with them, things will never be the same.